Analytics Tool IDs New Killer Mobile App: 'Communitainment'

Consumer-oriented mobile developers wondering where to focus their efforts in the coming year may want to think about targeting the new killer app as identified by Flurry Analytics: "Communitainment." That, according to Yahoo's analytics unit, is "communication for the sole purpose of entertainment."

The term relates to one of the primary drivers of mobility, the consumption of media -- which users are doing at rapidly expanding pace -- but it goes beyond typical social apps like Facebook and Snapchat or content streaming like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. And it's being driven by teens.

"The rise of teens engaging in communitainment has been one of the main driving forces behind the 38.5 percent increase [in time spent consuming media in apps], as well," said Yahoo exec Simon Khalaf in a blog post today. "Communitainment ... is not your standard chat or exchanging pictures over social networks. This is (live) streaming to entertain each other on dedicated apps like live.ly, musical.ly and Houseparty, which have been App Store Top 100 strong holds for a while."

Teen-driven mobile usage has pushed the average time spent on consuming media via mobile apps to more than two hours per day. This growth has been consistent over the past couple years, but "live" activities are a relatively new and growing factor.

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More than Two Hours Per Day (source: Flurry Analytics)

"Live content is finally happening on mobile, as teens have become avid 'streamers,'" Khalaf said. "Many still believe that this is a fad, but it is hard to look at the data (and astounding growth) and not see a phenomenon taking hold. In an effort to gain a foothold in this trend, Facebook is investing heavily in live video, as demonstrated by their recent ad campaign in every major U.S. metropolitan area. Flurry data is telling us that this trend is here to stay, and we see large communities forming around streamed content and hours spent on it. This is reality TV pushed to its limits and it’s imperative for app developers to build and watch the space -- no pun intended."